


Friends

by JessicaMariana



Category: Dragon Age II, Dragon Age: Inquisition
Genre: Childhood, First Love, Other
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2016-08-23
Updated: 2016-08-23
Packaged: 2018-08-10 14:53:34
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,619
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/7849453
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/JessicaMariana/pseuds/JessicaMariana
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>A short story about how Rida grew up to be who and where they are today.</p>
            </blockquote>





	Friends

The frozen gravel and snow crunched loudly underfoot as Rida ran with all their strength toward the Chantry. No one would think to look for them there. They just needed to hide for an hour or two, and the boys would give up on their chase for now.

Rida burst through the doors into the quiet hall, and immediately snuck into the shadows. The Chantry had always been a refuge for them. The were not only a dwarf, but also neither a boy nor a girl, and unusually pale. Their fair complex and white hair made the village boys call them a ghost and run after them with stones in their hands, ready to be thrown. And the adults didn’t seem to care.

Rida was a surfacer, a stranger in a fairly close-knit village just outside Starkhaven, far from any dwarven outposts.

Most days Rida wanted to leave the village, but the man they lived with since their mother passed was the only other dwarf around, and he looked after Rida like they were his child. Rida owed him their life, and that was why they wouldn’t leave. Not yet.

The Chantry smelled faintly of incense  and burnt out matches. The hundreds of candles lit around the hall warmed the air and made it feel like it was summer all year round.

Rida walked further into the hall. Their eyes wandered over the tall statues lining the walls, and the draperies embroidered with the Sunburst hanging between them, to the great statue of Andraste at the far end, who looked out into the distance.

Rida sat down quietly on one of the long benches and let their eyes slide shut. It was times like these that they made their plans for the future; how they would one day leave, what they would have to bring on the journey, where they would go… For a child of thirteen, Rida didn’t feel like most their age. Some might have thought such a thing sad - Rida themselves did, but they didn’t let that thought linger, because it would only make them want something they couldn’t have, and would have only made them sadder in the end.

Rida sighed heavily and sank down on the bench.

 

 

A loud bang snapped Sebastian out of his excruciating task of scrubbing the floor. He raised his head in order to see over and past the pews. The entrance doors stood wide open. Sebastian frowned, got up and quietly made his way to the back of the hall. His steps were quiet as a mouse’s - a technique he’d learned there, in the Chantry. He’d been told not to be seen or heard when called upon, as not to disturb anyone.

As Sebastian closed the doors he glanced at the snow drifting in. He looked around, and for a moment he thought someone had thrown a snowball into the left row of pews before he realised it was someone’s hair. He’d only seen such a bright white luster on the elderly people of the village who’d come to the sermons, but the figure who this belonged to was too short, their head just barely visible above the back of the bench. Were they hiding from something?

Sebastian scurried to one of the small windows next to the doors and peered outside. A bunch of boys were circling the front yard like a pack of wolves. Sebastian frowned and turned back toward the hall.

 _I should comfort them if they’ve been bullied_ , was his first thought as he slowly made his way toward the other person. _But what if they’re crying? What do I do?_ Sebastian’s heart rate rose as he got closer. He wasn’t sure what to do any more. Should he leave them alone or help them? He changed his mind several times during the walk down the six rows to the pew where the other person sat.

“Uhm, excuse me,” Sebastian said.

The other person’s eyes opened and looked straight at him, and his heart skipped a beat. They were pale blue, almost white. The white hair hung loosely down one shoulder, and their skin was pale as well and scattered richly with faint little freckles. _Beautiful._

“Can… Can I help you?” Sebastian offered, finding himself tugging absentmindedly on his robes. Why were his hands sweating all of a sudden?

“No,” came the reply accompanied by a frown. “Leave me alone.”

“I’m sorry.” Sebastian quickly gave a little bow and hurried back to the front of the hall to continue where he’d left the bucket and brush on the floor.

“I’m sorry,” a faint voice called after him.

Sebastian looked up and saw the little person approach. First then did he notice how short she… he was compared to himself, even though they seemed to be about the same age. The other person pulled their hair behind their ears and nervously brushed their fingers through it. Their cheeks had reddened and they avoided looking at Sebastian directly.

“Are they boys being mean?” Sebastian wondered, and got a nod.

“It’s because I’m different.”

“You’re not _that_ different.” Sebastian shrugged.

“I look different, _and_ I’m a dwarf.”

Realisation hit Sebastian. He’d never met a dwarf before, only heard about them.

“My name is Sebastian.”

“Rida.”

“I apologise, but can I ask...” Sebastian scratched his neck and looked down at the floor.

Rida looked at him curiously, waiting for him to continue.

“Are- are you a girl or a boy?”

“Oh,” Rida said, also looking down. How would they explain… “Neither.”

Sebastian’s eyebrows shot up in surprise despite himself. He’d never heard of that before either. Could someone exist without being neither a girl nor a boy?

“You think I’m weird,” Rida announced with a sigh.

“No! No, not at all,” Sebastian quickly protested.

They both fell silent for a long moment.

 _Rida is a pretty name_ , Sebastian thought with a smile.

“What?” Rida looked at him with wide eyes, and their cheeks even redder than before.

“Did I say that out loud?” Sebastian felt his own face burn, and clasped the brush tightly in his hands.

Rida chuckled then. “Thank you,” they said. “No one’s ever anything nice like that to me before.”

Sebastian looked back at them with a shy smile. “You’re really pretty too,” he said. If Rida had never heard anything like that, Sebastian might as well speak his mind. Besides, the two of them were all alone.

“Thank you,” Rida repeated happily.

“And it sounds adventurous,” Sebastian continued. “Your name… Rida.”

“Someday I will go on an adventure!”

“I don’t think I will, but I will wish you good luck wherever you go!”

 

 

Another day Rida ran through the village once more. They had the Chantry in sight. Soon they’d be safe. They saw Sebastian standing by the doors, holding one open for them. Rida pushed harder to go faster.

The door slammed shut behind them, and Rida leaned on their knees to catch their breath.

“This has got to stop,” Sebastian said, frowning disapprovingly. “We should tell someone.”

“No.” Rida shook their head. “No one will help. I’ve tried.”

“I will help,” Sebastian argued.

“I know.” Rida looked up with their pale eyes and pink cheeks. “Thank you!” They beamed at Sebastian.

Sebastian wiped his hands on the side of his robes, then took Rida’s hands in his and smiled back.

“It is my duty,” he said, and bowed deeply while theatrically pressing his lips to the back of Rida’s hand. “And it is my pleasure.”

It meant that they got to see each other yet again. Rida had been spending more early evenings outside in order for the village boys to notice them and give chase, so that Rida could run to the Chantry. They didn’t want to admit that they did it deliberately, but Sebastian was the only friend they had ever had, and they didn’t want to lose him. And since it was prohibited for an initiate like Sebastian to leave the Chantry grounds, Rida had to come to him.

They smiled as Sebastian took them into an annex where he told Rida what he did, what he learned, and what he thought.

 

 

Sebastian smiled as he saw Rida enter the Chantry grounds one morning alone.

“What’s this?” he asked, somewhat confused, but happy. Had they finally chased the boys off?

“Come with me,” Rida said with a mischievous smile, and tugged at Sebastian’s hand. “I want to show you something.”

Sebastian allowed to be dragged to the edge of the grounds, but hesitated when he realised Rida wanted to take him further.

He said “I shouldn’t”, but in the end thought that he’d rather spend the morning doing something fun and repent later, than prepare for his lessons. Besides, Rida looked very expectant. He didn’t want to deny them any little enjoyment they could find.

Rida took Sebastian into the little forest on the outskirts of the village. He asked them where they were going, but Rida simple replied with “you’ll see” and a smile.

It didn’t take long before they walked through a big, thick bush to find themselves in a small clearing. It was a meadow filled with colourful flowers, and as Rida stepped into the middle, the contrast between them and the greenery made Sebastian’s heart ache. It was beautiful beyond words. It was almost as if Rida had personally put all the colour from themselves into that meadow.

“Wow,” Sebastian said, lacking anything better to say. “This is magnificent!”

Rida looked around, nodding. “Isn’t it?” they said. They were still moving, though, making their way across the clearing to a cliff face.

Sebastian noticed then that there was a cave opening in the rocky wall. And when Rida went inside, he hurried to follow.

“What is this?” His voice echoed in the large, hollow space. “A bear cave?”

“Possibly,” Rida said, shrugging. “But it’s also my secret cache.”

“What’s that?”

“This is where I hide all the things I’ll need for my adventure.” Rida turned to look back at Sebastian. “Well, everything except coin.”

“It’s brlliant!”

“I don’t think I’ll need much, but I will need some for travel and inns and things.”

“‘And things’?”

Rida shrugged. Surely, something would require coin that they hadn’t thought of yet.

“I think I’ve got almost everything,” they summarised. “It’s just the coin...”

They looked up at Sebastian with a sad smile, and Sebastian matched it.

“So you’ll be leaving soon then?” he asked quietly and kicked the ground with his soft boot.

“Perhaps.”

Rida suddenly found it hard to look at Sebastian. He looked so sad. They felt a lump begin to form in their throat and bit their lip in order for it to stop trembling, but the tears forming in their eyes gave them away.

 _Don’t cry,_ Rida told themselves. _Don’t cry_.

Sebastian’s hands rose to his reddened face and he held back a cough. He was crying too. A tear fell from his cheek onto his chest, staining his robes.

“No,” Rida said, rushing to take his hands. “Don’t cry, Seastian!”

“I’m sorry,” he sobbed. “But I’m going to miss you.”

“I’m going to miss you too! So, so, _so_ much!”

Rida tugged at his robes as their own tears overwhelmed them. They stood like that, crying together for a long while until they were too tired to carry on.

Sebastian reached down at took Rida’s hand. Rida looked down at their entwined fingers, mesmerised by the difference in the colours of their skin. Theirs the palest of pales, and Sebastian’s richly kissed by the sun. Rida looked up into his clear blue eyes.

“You’re really pretty too,” they said, wiping the last tears on the back of their free hand.

Sebastian couldn’t help but laugh. “Thank you,” he said.

He looked down at Rida, and they still up at him. Without realising, they both leaned forward, their eyes sliding shut. Their lips met in a soft, gentle kiss. They lingered for a moment, savouring the mix of different feelings rushing through their bodies, before Sebastian pulled away. He felt extremely embarrassed for what he’d done and couldn’t look at Rida for more than a split second, during which he saw that their cheeks were burning red and their eyes darted to the ground.

“I’m sorry.” He had to apologise. It would be wrong not to. He felt as if he’d done something terribly wrong. “I shouldn’t have-”

“No, it’s alright,” Rida said, still avoiding eye-contact. “Don’t be sorry.”

“No, I am. It wasn’t right. I can’t do this.”

Rida looked up at Sebastian, eyes wide with disbelief.

“What do you mean?”

But he didn’t reply. He’d already let go of Rida’s hand and was making his way out of the cave and into the forest.

“Sebastian!” Rida called after him, but he was gone.

 

 

“Rida,” the familiar, gruff voice of their uncle called one afternoon as they were preparing dinner. “There’s a letter for you. A boy just came and left. Said nothing.”

Rida turned to look at him, and reached for the letter. It was unsigned.

“What is it?” they asked. “Did the boy really say nothing?”

“Not a word.”

Rida rushed into the other room to open the letter in private.

“Well, what’s it say?” their uncle asked from the kitchen.

Rida tore open the envelope and gasped in surprise when a handful of coins fell from between a soft pair of knitted woolen gloves. They turned the envelope upside-down trying to find a note when they saw a small word written on the inside of the thick paper.

“‘Sorry’” _,_ Rida read to themselves. _Sebastian?_

Rida looked at the gloves and tried them on. It was strange how well they fit. They then counted the coin, and with that put it all aside on the table and ran outside.

The village boys saw them come out of the house and immediately gave chase. Rida ran, uncaring of who followed, and headed straight down the main road, past the square, to the Chantry.

The door stood open, welcoming the villagers for the weekly sermon. Rida didn’t hesitate for a second as they ran into the hall.

“Where’s Sebastian?” they asked the first Sister they encountered.

“He should be out back, tending to the-”

“Thank you!”

Rida rushed back outside before the woman could finish. Sure enough, Sebastian sat on his knees by a rose bush, picking weeds. He saw Rida approach, and got up, brushing his robes clean.

“Thank you.” Rida said, panting. “But why? How?”

“I’ve been saving the allowance that my father sends me each month,” Sebastian explained, scratching his neck with his muddy fingers. “We’re not allowed to keep worldly possessions, to be honest, but I never knew what to do with it… until now.”

“But so much?!” Rida still couldn’t believe it. How did a Chantry boy have so much coin?

“My family is the royal family of Starkhaven,” he said, and blushed. “I’m a prince of sorts, but not really since I have two older brothers who will rule after my father. You know, the heir and the spare. I’m here so I don’t compete with them, but I’m still part of the family.”

“You’re a prince?”

“Yes… And I’ll get more coin whether I need it or not, so take what I gave you. Go on your adventure. Get away from here.”

“I’ll miss you.”

Sebastian froze on the spot. They hadn’t spoken since their kiss in the cave.

“I’ll miss you too,” Sebastian replied quietly, his expression softening. “Good luck, Rida.”

“Thank you.”

Sebastian took their hand and raised it to his lips.

 

  
The next morning Rida set out on an adventure of a lifetime.

**Author's Note:**

> If you wish to spread my works on tumblr, please reblog it from me: [lustfullygazing](http://lustfullygazing.tumblr.com/)  
> 


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